“I’m sorry, Charlotte. I don’t think I heard you right.” I say, shock obvious in my voice.

She shakes her head slowly. “I’m sorry. But I need to leave.”

I don’t respond. I wasn’t expecting this. What happened? I should’ve called Seunghyun again. Or I at least should’ve called YoungBae. I really wasn’t expecting this… Aishh! I’m too dumbfounded to even think clearly. Then something catches my attention.

“You want to or need to?” I abruptly ask.

“Huh?”

I rise from my chair and place my hands on my desk. I meet her eyes steadily. “You want to leave or you need to leave?” I raise my eyebrows at her.

Her eyes widen as if she realized that slip-up. She avoids my eyes and looks down. I see her tug on the hem of her shirt. She doesn’t say anything. Silence grows thick in the room. I slowly sit back down in my chair, feeling an inkling of hope. I wonder what happened…

Charlotte inhales, breaking the silence. She strongly meets my gaze.

“Both.” She says.

I pause. I wasn’t expecting this either. Is it just me or does Charlotte have that certain charm where she’s full of surprises? What does she mean? She wants to leave, but she also needs to. What did the boys do?

“YG-shi…” She murmurs. “Will you let me leave?”

I pause once again. I sigh and entwine my hands together, resting my hands on the desk. I have to look at the bigger picture. Pushing personal problems aside, there’s still the MV. And I bet a lot of people have seen pictures of Charlotte already. If I just let her leave then I know they’ll hunt her down either way. Plus, they won’t leave her alone. But, her leaving must be personal… YoungBae.

I mentally sigh. I haven’t seen him since he barged in my office. I don’t think I have any other choice.

“Well, Charlotte, if that’s what you want…” I hesitate. “Then I’ll let you go.”

I see her shoulders slump and the emotions in her eyes die. She solemnly nods as she stands up.

“Thank you, YG-shi.” She says, her voice dead.

I let out a sigh. “I’ll have someone pack your stuff and ship it back to your home in the states. You’ll have less stuff to carry.” I rub my forehead, feeling suddenly tired. She slightly bows and swiftly and silently walks out the door, closing the door behind her.

“I hope the boys won’t let you go.” I sigh once more. “Not unless you leave without telling them…”

-----------------------------------

[CPOV]

I walk silently down the stairs, taking my time. I rub my eyes. I don’t think I can stop my tears anymore. I actually thought YG would tell me to stay. I really kept my hopes up for it. I can see that YG really is kind hearted, despite what might happen to his franchise. I stop walking and plainly stare at my feet. I feel completely guilty that I might be the cost of the MV failing. I hope that doesn’t happen. I really wish the best for them. It’s just that… I got too close with the boys. I should’ve kept it an employee-friendly relationship. How stupid I am.

I lean my back against the wall and stare at the ceiling. I try to swallow.

“I’m so sorry.” I whisper. Teardrops fall down my cheeks, one after another. I grab my chest, the place where my heart is falling apart. My knees give out and I slide down the wall, sobbing. I take a glance up and down the stairs, making sure nobody is there.

“I’m sorry, boys.” I whisper again. I clutch my chest tighter. Why am I always apologizing? Am I really that pathetic? I scoff and bitterly smile. Maybe I am. I reach out and grab the railing. I pull myself up, my knees shaking. My stomach turns and my throat constricts. I weakly start walking down the stairs, suddenly wanting to get out of the building. I need air… I need air.

From forcing my feet to run, I miss two steps and fall. I fall down with my head first then roll down to the bottom. I roughly hit the wall with a loud bang. I bite down on my tongue to prevent me from screaming. My jaw starts to sting violently. Yeah, I’m really pathetic. I rest my hand on the floor and feel a sharp pressure.

“Aishh…” I hiss as I pull my hand up. I mentally groan as I see red liquid spill out from my palm. Aishh! A small cut on my hand… how in the world could I get a cut from the floor? I angrily wipe away the tears in my eyes and look down. What the heck? Why would someone leave broken glass pieces on the floor in the middle of the stairs?

Then something red calls my attention. I look down my shirt. I jump to my feet and stare at my shirt. Bloodstains? I glance at my palm again. It’s not even bleeding much. My jaw starts to sting even more. I hold on to my jaw, hissing at the pain. Could one punch from YoungBae really hurt that much? Well, it was from YoungBae… Aishh! I shouldn’t think like that. My stupidity brought that on me.

I suddenly feel something roll down my arm. I take my hand away. I gasp, the sound echoing throughout the empty stairwell. I wipe at my jaw again; more blood stains my hand. Oh hell! I carefully avoid the rest of the glass and run down the stairs, forgetting my emotional problems.

I see a back exit. I hold on to my jaw as I look left and right, making sure nobody will be able to see me. When I felt reassured, I quickly run outside. I pause and inhale the air. I let out a huge breath. That’s much better. I glance at my hand again. I look away in disgust. I should’ve gone to the bathroom first. I don’t know what I look like right now. I probably look repulsive.

“Miss?”

I turn around. It’s the boys’ driver. He gasps and runs over to me. He takes me hand away and inspects my jaw. He mutters something in Korean. He reaches in his back pocket and takes out a small towel. He wipes my hands clean and smiles kindly at me.

“Thank you.” I mumble, looking down. Like I said, I don’t know what I look like. I’ve been punched, I’ve cried way too much, I’ve practically killed my heart, and I’ve already bled enough to fill a freaking bag.

He says something in Korean. I hear the word hospital and doctor in it. He hands me the towel and I quickly press it against my jaw. He leads me towards the black van and opens the passenger door. He kindly smiles again and gestures for me to go inside. I climb in and press the towel harder on my jaw, hoping I won’t make a mess in here. In a few seconds, the driver was already in his side and speeding off. We sat in silence and he didn’t ask me anything. I was grateful for that.

After a few minutes, we arrive at the hospital. The driver rushes to my side and opens my door. He helps me out and we walk in the hospital. A nurse at the front desk runs to help as she sees me. She says something in Korean. The driver responds for me. She nods in understanding. She says something else and sends the driver off.

“He’ll stay here with out until you’re all fixed up.” She tells me. She smiles at me and I return her smile weakly. I really don’t feel any emotions right now, and I seriously don’t want to smile at all. Not with what happened today.

The nurse sets me in a room and goes off to get some supplies. She comes back a few minutes later.

“What time is it?” I ask as she starts cleaning up the blood on my face. I bite my tongue as I feel the alcohol sting the cut.

She glances at her watch swiftly. “Almost two in the morning.”

My eyes widen. Seriously? How come I didn’t notice any of this? Oh right, I was too busy with the crap life threw at me. Another sharp sting on my jaw makes me bite down harder on my tongue.

“You look familiar.” The nurse mutters.

“I do?” I ask. She finally stops cleaning and inspects the cut. She then meets my eyes.

“Like I’ve seen you before….” She trails off. “Ah!” She exclaims after a while. “I saw you online!”

“Excuse me?”

She nods eagerly. “I’ve seen pictures of you with Big Bang!”

I pause. I mentally smack my forehead. Of course! I completely forgot about my “dates” with them… except for YoungBae. My heart turns and squeezes. I nod. “Right.” I mutter.

I see her jump up and down slightly. “I’m such a big fan of them. Tell me, what are they like?”

“Um…” I hesitate. Well, they’re pretty much amazing. They’ll make you wonder what they can’t do because they are close to perfect… I feel my eyes sting. I blink rapidly as I look down. “They’re exactly what most of their fans see them: amazingly perfect in every way. You’ll practically die if you leave them.” I whisper.

-------------------------------------

[DPOV]

“Noona!” I yell. No answer. I pull out the extra keys to her room and barge in. I go in the living room. She’s not there. I go down the hall and take a peek in the bathroom. Empty. I quickly go to her bedroom. Nothing! I check every room; slamming the doors every time I find nothing.

“Noona, you can’t leave…” I whisper. I run out of her room, looking left and right. I sprint downstairs and go to the front desk. The receptionist smiles kindly at me. “Have you seen a girl go through here?” I ask her.

“I’ve only seen Teddy-shi leave through here.” She says.

I bow to her and say a quick thanks as I frantically rush outside. I quickly look left and right down the streets then cross it and run to the park. I glance at my watch. It’s 2:15 in the morning. The park is completely deserted. Charlotte isn’t even here. Where else would she go? She already has a room here in the YG building and the park is only close. Are there any other places she can go to?

Not unless she’s planning to leave tonight…

Aishh! I scratch my head and go back inside. “Can you call our driver?” I ask the receptionist.

“Um,” She bites her lip. “I saw him leave with a girl in the passenger seat. It looked like she was hurt. I saw a lot of blood on her arm and shirt. I think it was that girl you boys have been going out with.”

I stare at her. Charlotte is hurt? She looked fine when I saw her with YG-shi… Well, she looked fine physically kind of. My mind goes to YoungBae hyung. He just punched the girl he has feelings for.

God, I wonder what’s on his mind right now.